The broad definition of e-Commerce(electronic commerce) is the the buying and selling of products and services electronically using online technology over the Internet. 

The need for e-Commerce adoption by traditional businesses is becoming more and more important for these businesses to stay competitive. Recent news that shopping malls are becoming less busy because of the increased number of customers shopping online is a clear indicator that every traditional shop should also have an online store. 

A business plan is a document that summarizes the operational and financial objectives of a business and contains the detailed plans and budgets showing how the objectives are to be realized.

It communicates a viable business idea. We communicate with employees, suppliers, investors, financial institutions and other stakeholders. The main reason for this communication is to convince stakeholders that the new venture will be successful and it is worthwhile to invest in the enterprise.

Few young people take up training in the 13 key critical areas of the artisan economy, as most prefer going to university after high school.

While South Africa’s unemployment rate of 27.1% in the fourth quarter of 2018 reflected a figure of 6.14 million jobless people – with youth unemployment above 50% – lack of skilled artisans has been singled out by experts as a major barrier to job creation and economic growth.

Small Business Development Department Minister Lindiwe Zulu placed the employees on suspension for their alleged involvement in corruption and fraud.

Nine officials from the Small Business Development Department have been suspended.

Minister Lindiwe Zulu placed the employees on suspension for their alleged involvement in corruption and fraud.

DURBAN, April 3 - The business community was supportive of government's efforts to stabilise state owned power producer Eskom and was willing to offer the expertise of its members to help revive the institution, Business Unity South Africa (BUSA) and the presidency said in a joint statement on Wednesday.

This is separate from the US$180 million loan agreement signed on Monday to connect 670MW of renewable energy projects to the national grid.

The New Development Bank (NDB) will provide a project loan of US$480 million (about R6.8 billion) to Eskom for environmental protection project for Medupi Thermal Power Plant, National Treasury said on Tuesday.

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan recently said that the Medupi and Kusile coal-fired power plants were “badly designed and badly constructed”.

Investment envoy Jacko Maree says investors are continually stressing the need for political and policy certainty and simpler regulations.

Companies were “sitting on their hands”, awaiting the outcome of the general elections before putting money into the South African economy, says one of the country’s special investment envoys.

Patrick Dlamini was speaking during a panel discussion at the fourth annual meeting of the New Development Bank.

Without alternative power generation capacity, unemployment will remain rampant in South Africa, said Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) chief executive Patrick Dlamini on Tuesday.

“The policymakers, they have a decision to make to make sure that you can be able to enable and sustain the economy by coming up with measures that will ensure that there are other generators of power,” Dlamini said.

On top of the growing debt, coal quality and delivery remains a problem.

Moody’s credit opinion issued yesterday on the heels of its recent decision to keep South Africa’s credit rating one level above junk, said elevated government debt and contingent liabilities risks from state-owned enterprises (SOEs), limited government’s ability to absorb shocks.

The application process for the Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative, the $10 million contest launched by Alibaba Group Executive Chairman Jack Ma to inspire an entire continent of entrepreneurs, is now officially open.

Applications to compete for the prize, which will award $1 million a year for the next 10 years to African entrepreneurs across all industries, will be open online through June 30. (To apply or find out more about the prize, go here.)

The platform will be launched alongside the SA SME CEO Fund Circle which aims to finance and scale up black emerging businesses.

An online trading platform aimed at linking registered small, medium, and micro enterprises’ (SMMEs) to supply chain opportunities from large South African corporations that have integrated global footprints will go live today, 28 March 2019, following its official launch by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The initiative ‘would create market opportunities for black-owned SMMEs through linkages and networking between large firms and SMMEs’.

President Cyril Ramaphosa will launch the Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) Connect and SA SME CEO Fund Circle in Johannesburg, the presidency said.

The prize is open to all industries and small business owners and female entrepreneurs are encouraged to apply.

Organisers have opened the application process for the Africa Netpreneur Prize Initiative (ANPI) for entrepreneurs on the continent.

Alibaba Group executive chairperson Jack Ma created the prize after making his first trip to Africa in 2017 and being inspired by the entrepreneurial potential of the young people he met.

Uninterruptible power supplies and back-up power inverter systems should be considered.

Many small South African businesses are now being forced to take loans to buy standby equipment to use during rolling electricity power cuts, said small and medium enterprises funder Retail Capital on Wednesday.

State-owned utility Eskom, struggling to produce enough electricity to meet demand, has for the last few days implemented load shedding which suppresses up to 4,000 MW of demand at a given time to avoid a total collapse of the grid.

Zande Africa uses a micro distribution model to allow spaza shops to take advantage of better pricing directly from manufacturers.

Local fintech company Zande Africa is offering an innovative financial and distribution platform to informal shops, known as spaza shops, a sector where 90% or more of transactions are in cash form.

Zande Africa says the spaza shop market in South Africa is valued at around R40 billion per year and growing at around 10% annually, but is characterised by unbanked owners with limited or no access to better financial products.